1 week of swim lessons a waste?

[Anonymous]

My 4 and 6 year old are signed up for swim lessons that are m-f for half an hour. It's their first time taking lessons, though we have a pool so they are comfortable in water. We probably won't do lessons again until spring, since we live in CA where most pools are outdoors and not heated, at least the park and rec pools. It was only $50 for each of them, am I throwing money away or will it be worth it vs several weeks of once a week lessons?

[Anonymous]

I think daily practice is critical - your four year old won’t remember things from week to week since a week is a long time at that age. They probably won’t learn to swim in a week, no, but any exposure is good.

[Anonymous]

Five daily lessons will be more progress than five weeks of once a week lessons. But five daily lessons won’t make non swimmers into swimmers.

[Anonymous]

This is how my kids learned to swim: group lessons through the county, then parent reinforcement in the summer outdoor pools. Nothing during the school year.

[Anonymous]

Multiple days over a few weeks is better than once a week over a long period of time for kids that age. Mine is on swim team now and did weekly lessons for years as a baby and preschooler. Her biggest times of progress came during a few summers when I could put her in weeks of M-F classes and then swim for fun with her the rest of the summer. Indoor lessons in the winter were less about progress and more about the habit of getting used to being cold and wet and uncomfortable.

Your kids will make more progress taking any lessons than not doing lessons “because it isn’t worth it.”

[Anonymous]

Swimming lessons are never a bad thing but after my first kid, I realized that lessons were a waste (for us) until the kid was already super comfortable in the water (jump in, submerge, paddle a few feet back to the side happily- all with a parent in the water closely supervised but unassisted). Required spending the better part of a day per weekend playing in the pool for awhile! Then, they breezed through lessons. I’m sure experiences vary but worked for us x3. Also live in a warm weather location (AZ) and have a pool.

It sounds like your kids are at that point (comfortable and happy in the water?) so seems like a great time for the lessons and they may actually progress a fair amount going daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Five daily lessons will be more progress than five weeks of once a week lessons. But five daily lessons won’t make non swimmers into swimmers.

+1

Clustered lessons are the way to go, especially if you can't do swim lessons in the winter. And if you can get in plenty of pool time between lesson clusters, even better.

It's a big confidence builder, too. While a kid isn't going to go from non-swimmer to swimmer in 5 days, there are a bunch of skills they can accumulate in 5 days and gaining them all together like that makes them more excited and confident about swimmers.

Just make sure you are always reinforcing proper water safety so that confidence doesn't lead to taking risks. You still need to be right next to them and watching them while swimming for quite some time to come. We are on year 3 of swim lessons and I'm only just starting to contemplate letting DD swim while I watch from the deck, instead of need an adult actually in the pool with her. For the first year, not only was I in the pool with her, but always within an arms reach.

[Anonymous]

Where in CA do you live that outdoor rec pools aren't heated? They are heated although some skinny kids wear wetsuits to beginning level classes where there is more waiting around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where in CA do you live that outdoor rec pools aren't heated? They are heated although some skinny kids wear wetsuits to beginning level classes where there is more waiting around.

Northern CA. I think the pools are heated, they just don't start the lessons until spring because it's raining a lot in the winter, lots of wind and not warm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where in CA do you live that outdoor rec pools aren't heated? They are heated although some skinny kids wear wetsuits to beginning level classes where there is more waiting around.

Northern CA. I think the pools are heated, they just don't start the lessons until spring because it's raining a lot in the winter, lots of wind and not warm.

OP again should have said that in my post. They aren't heated very much is what I meant. I think 80 is what they keep it at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Five daily lessons will be more progress than five weeks of once a week lessons. But five daily lessons won’t make non swimmers into swimmers.

+1000. Both of my DCs learned to swim veeeeeery slowly, week after week of county lessons including in the winter. They learned faster when the lessons were clustered more closely, but also needed practice and reinforcement in between - and neither of them had any particular fears or hangups about the water. But keep at it, OP, especially if you have a pool at your home. The sooner they are proficient, the safer they are.